Books : Michel Thomas Foundation Course: Spanish (Michel Thomas Series)

Rating: - Now the hype is making people expect too much.
Some people have quite rightly criticised this course for being poorly produced. It does not have the polish of flash production. I found the plain human approach actually helped me. I can understand that it would put some people off. It claims to be a revolutionary technique for teaching language and it really, really is! I read some of the critisims and it is fair to say that he does not use Spanish speakers. It is fair that the course is basic. Don't let that deceive you. It is far more comprehensive than most course because it builds on the obivious and expands your language in devious ways so you really don't realise you have learned. You will not be fluent at the end of the course. The fault is not in the course but in its length. I think Michel has had to struggle to have his ideas pubished. I am sure there will be more when people like me keep nagging for more. I have tried to learn French, unsucessfully. I have had a crack at Russian and it was hard work. I have struggled without sucess at German. Then I had to learn Spanish. I was despairing. Michel's course got me going, I really enjoy learning now and I really enjoy trying my Spanish on my friendly Spanish bar man. He despairs of me but at least I can talk some sense. This course wins not because of the dreadful prodution. Not because of the students deliberate mistakes, not because of the lack of Spanish speakers but and it is a very big but, it demistifies all those dreadful things like verbs and nouns and genders and all that really boring stuff. This is beginners stuff. But it is FUN. FUN. Yes. Really. Learning a language can be FUN. And non threating. AND NOT BORING. Can't be bad can it. If I could I would give this course *******Stars

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Rating: - Surprisingly as good as it says on the tin
I bought this just before a trip to Spain, and managed to complete half of it before I went. Four hours of Michel's teaching leaves you with much more confidence than the two years of studying I did at school (12 years ago). In the end I was joking with hotel staff, buying umpteen pairs of shoes and saying things I didn't even know I knew. Can't wait to get to the next four hours, and I'm not even going to Spain again. It's just so satisfying.

A word for the nervous: there are two students on the cd. One is fairly adept at picking things up, the other isn't so comfortable. Michel never makes the less able student feel bad, or slow, or wrong - he just lets him work it out for himself. In the end you feel like you're learning right along with them - odd but true. Whatever level you think you are, you'll be able to get somewhere with this.

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Rating: - an excellent start to spanish
I have tried to start languages by audio before and found them quite boring. Most involve parrot repetition of phrases with little real understanding of the construction of sentences. This method is easy. I listened mainly in the car over a three week period and picked up enough to get me by on a non english speaking holiday. I was able to construct sentences to make myself understood although my vocabulary was very limited and I still needed a phrase book. I did get in to some difficulty understanding rapid fire replies from people who thought I had a better grasp than I had so am about to embark on the language builder and plan to get some spanish conversation practice. It gets you started quickly and doesnt need much effort.

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Rating: - terribly disappointing - patronizing tone of teaching
I am afraid that this course is NOT for those who find conventional methods of language learning fine. What Michel Thomas does is simply to give you enough experiences (or a slow build-up) to get used to some Spanish. I found his students' deliberate stuttering and mistakes awfully annoying. Michel Thomas's pronounciation and dry mouth may be bearable for some, his method completely put me off. This is definitely not for those who knows some basic Spanish already.

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Rating: - Fantastic resource for anyone looking to learn Spanish fast
Last year I went away to South America for several months. Having no experience of Spanish before I left I went out and purchased Michel Thomas's Spanish course. It was money well spent. After listening to only the first 3 cd's I was confident enough to go out on my own, shopping and sightseeing and conversing with the locals. By the end of my trip I was next to fluent, something which would never have been possible without these CD's. Michel's methods are revolutionary and I highly recommend this course.